desensitization
Americannoun
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the act or process of desensitizing.
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Physiology, Medicine/Medical. the elimination or reduction of natural or acquired reactivity or sensitivity to an external stimulus, as an allergen.
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Psychiatry. a behavior modification technique, used especially in treating phobias, in which panic or other undesirable emotional response to a given stimulus is reduced or extinguished, especially by repeated exposure to that stimulus.
Etymology
Origin of desensitization
First recorded in 1920–25; desensitize + -ation
Vocabulary lists containing desensitization
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, is so mysterious that even its trained practitioners don’t fully understand how it works.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
Short selling has become more challenging due to a buoyant stock market, increased litigation risk, and investor desensitization to risk.
From Barron's • Oct. 8, 2025
Over the last 50 years, our bureaucratic desensitization to incarceration has grown largely unchecked.
From Salon • Aug. 17, 2025
The “Therapy Dog Team” has been on duty since late February following months of preparation and intensive training, learning desensitization to distracting stimuli, like sounds and people.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 8, 2024
“I shall devise a squirrel desensitization program,” she thought.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
